“After Shave” and “Mabrouk Again” are two films about modern day Lebanon but also about the trauma that it experienced during the 1975-1990 Civil War. Both are relatively short films and both comment on the tragedy but also frustration that the war presented.
“After Shave” is about a commoner barber who is called upon to shave an artist who just woke up after a long sleep during the war. The barber has a blatant financial reason for this work. It is simple but immeasurably rewarding for him. He gets a large quantity of a US dollar so long as he can continue to shave this guy’s face and groom him. Unfortunately for him, the artist wants to leave his house and enter the new Lebanon, a Lebanon that has a lottery, that has ceased to experience Civil War, and a world in which an Artist wants to revisit his prior life. In the end it does not prove to be bad for the barber as a large sum in the form of US legal tender lands in his hand.
This short film can serve as an allegory for the larger context of what has happened in Lebanon. It is certainly true that times have changed but in so many ways times have stayed the same. The 2006 Lebanon War proved to be incredibly costly for the small nation on so many levels. While the Lebanese cite their Phoenician roots to support their cosmopolitan heritage, half of their small land is ruled by a not-so democratically elected group in Hezbollah. This aside, the short film comments on the value (or novelty) of Americanism in Lebanon, the peace of mind that comes from the past, and the clinging on to something not so great for all the wrong reasons.
“After Shave” is about a commoner barber who is called upon to shave an artist who just woke up after a long sleep during the war. The barber has a blatant financial reason for this work. It is simple but immeasurably rewarding for him. He gets a large quantity of a US dollar so long as he can continue to shave this guy’s face and groom him. Unfortunately for him, the artist wants to leave his house and enter the new Lebanon, a Lebanon that has a lottery, that has ceased to experience Civil War, and a world in which an Artist wants to revisit his prior life. In the end it does not prove to be bad for the barber as a large sum in the form of US legal tender lands in his hand.
This short film can serve as an allegory for the larger context of what has happened in Lebanon. It is certainly true that times have changed but in so many ways times have stayed the same. The 2006 Lebanon War proved to be incredibly costly for the small nation on so many levels. While the Lebanese cite their Phoenician roots to support their cosmopolitan heritage, half of their small land is ruled by a not-so democratically elected group in Hezbollah. This aside, the short film comments on the value (or novelty) of Americanism in Lebanon, the peace of mind that comes from the past, and the clinging on to something not so great for all the wrong reasons.
1 comments:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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